Cong targets Modi over farmers' suicide

A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that farmers were his top priority, the Congress on Monday targeted him for farmers' suicides in Maharashtra.

To mark the conclusion of the BJP's 90-day Nava Nirman Parivarthan yatra across poll-bound Karnataka, on Sunday, Modi, while addressing a rally in Bengaluru, had said: "Farmers are my top priority, and by 'TOP' I mean 'Tomato', 'Onion' and 'Potato'. If Yeddyurappa, the son of a farmer, becomes  the chief minister of Karnataka, the projects for farmers will work at its best because he has the farmer's best interest at heart."

However, Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee President and former chief  minister Ashok Chavan in a tweet countered Modi's statement.

"More than 13,000 farmers committed suicide in Maharashtra during last the 3.5 years of the BJP regime. Does that indicate the government's priority towards the issues of farmers," Chavan, an MP from Nanded, tweeted.